Stick
From Wednesday, June 4th, Apple TV+
What do washed-up sports stars do when they’ve reached the end of the road and are looking for a signpost to redemption? Easy: they just stumble on a young prodigy, preferably from a dysfunctional background and with a few anger issues, and take them under their wing. Pryce Cahill is a former pro golfer – nicknamed Stick – whose career ended 20 years ago, followed soon after by his marriage and his job at a sporting-goods store. With lots of time on his hands and little else in prospect, Pryce encounters Santi, a troubled teenager who happens to be a genius with a golf club. Can Pryce help Santi hit the heights of PGA success that he never reached himself? And does Santi even want success? Owen Wilson stars as Stick in this comedy drama that plays a bit like Hoosiers meets Happy Gilmore. It’s from the crowd that brought us Ted Lasso, so nuff said.
Ginny & Georgia
From Thursday, June 5th, Netflix
Mother-daughter relationships can be a bit of a trial, but in the third series of this comedy drama the Miller family faces an actual trial – for murder. Series two ended with Georgia (Brianne Howey), the mom, being arrested on her own wedding day; her daughter, Ginny (Antonia Gentry), faces the dilemma of whether to believe in her mother’s innocence or accept the overwhelming evidence against her. What she does know is that she doesn’t want her mom to go to prison. Georgia is put under house arrest and made to wear an electronic ankle monitor, while Ginny has to run the gauntlet in the school corridor every day, with the eyes of her classmates burning through her head. Will the Miller family rise to their greatest challenge yet while still delivering some laugh-out-loud moments? You better believe it, peaches.
Fubar
From Thursday, June 12th, Netflix
When it was announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be returning for a second series of this comedy spy show, the “I’ll be back” quips came thick and fast. In his first foray into TV territory, Arnie plays the CIA agent Luke Brunner, who has had to defer his retirement for one last espionage job. Now it looks as if the gold-watch ceremony will have to wait a bit longer, as in series two he faces a deadly foe in the form of an old flame, the German spy Greta Nelso, played with suitably over-the-top gusto by Carrie-Anne Moss. In series one Luke was pulled back out of retirement to rescue a fellow CIA operative – who turned out to be his daughter, Emma (Monica Barbaro). The cast members have all talked about how much fun they had making this series – let’s hope it’s just as much fun for us to watch.
We Were Liars
From Wednesday, June 18th, Prime Video
Take a private island paradise off the coast of New England, add a sprinkle of rich, beautiful, privileged teenagers, top it off with a dash of smouldering passion and jealousy, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a murder mystery. Cadence Sinclair Eastman is a scion of the wealthy, influential Sinclair family, and she and her siblings, cousins and close friends – known as the Liars – are spending another idyllic summer on the island, but then something bad happens, and the dynamic within the group changes irrevocably, while the island’s unspoken omerta rule suddenly kicks in. Sounds like another variation on the “I know what you did last summer” trope. It’s based on the bestselling YA novel by E Lockhart, aka Emily Jenkins.
The Buccaneers
From Wednesday, June 18th, Apple TV+
Those scandalous American girls are back in polite English society in the second series of the period drama, which is sort of like Bridgerton with a bit of a twang. In the 1870s a group of wealthy and brash young heiresses are sent over from the United States to gatecrash the London social scene and bag themselves husbands, but their extroverted ways quickly clash with the buttoned-up traditions of Victorian society. It’s not long before they’re setting gentlemen’s pulses racing, and sending scandalised dowagers reaching for the smelling salts. In this second series the Buccaneers have become firmly integrated in London life, and Nan has become the Duchess of Tintagel, while Conchita is better known as Lady Brightlingsea. But they’re still out to shake up the status quo, all to a fab, completely anachronistic soundtrack featuring Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga and The Last Dinner Party.
The Waterfront
From Thursday, June 19th, Netflix
The Buckley family are the kingpins of their own fishing empire in a small village on the coast of North Carolina. Their name is on practically every business, shop and restaurant, so they have a bit of a hegemony here. But, beneath it all, business is going downhill, and the family patriarch, Harlan Buckley (Colt McCallany), must raise a couple of million to turn things around. He gets into bed with some shady drug smugglers, but as things spiral out of control and the body count piles up, it’s looking more and more like the Buckleys will be sleeping with the fishes.
Countdown
From Wednesday, June 25th, Prime Video
A dead Homeland Security agent, a secret taskforce and a terror plot that could end in millions of deaths: maybe I won’t have another consonant after all, Rachel, thank you very much. Jensen Ackles from The Boys heads the cast of this action-thriller series created by Derek Haas, the mind behind the FBI series and all its variants. Ackles is the LAPD cop Mark Meachum, who is recruited into the taskforce after the Homeland Security guy is murdered in broad daylight. The murder is just the tip of the iceberg, and soon Ackles and the team are racing to stop the bad guys from turning the citizens of LA into DOA.
The Bear
From Thursday, June 26th, Disney+
Chef-patron Carmy Berzatto is back in kitchen hell in the fourth series of the foodie dramedy, and he’s still in pursuit of excellence in the former sandwich shop in Chicago that he inherited after the suicide of his brother, Michael. Carmy, a Michelin-star chef, has turned the dive into a fine-dining restaurant, but success is far from a done deal. Money is running out, and the kitchen is still in chaos and turmoil. Can Carmy create a calmer atmosphere in this culinary crucible? Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy, with Ayo Edebiri, Oliver Platt and Jamie Lee Curtis among the cast.
Squid Game
From Friday, June 27th, Netflix
How much of a gaming junkie do you have to be to go back into a game that could end in your death? In series two of the hit Korean series – Netflix’s most successful non-English-language series – Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) went back into the game with a clear mission to take down the faceless organisation behind this murderous, macabre theme park, but in this third and final series he finds himself back in the Squid Game dorm after the failure of his attempted rebellion – and this time the games have been taken to even deadlier levels. Gi-hun must survive this last round and also outwit his treacherous adversary the Frontman as the tournament reaches its bloody, adrenaline-pumping climax.
Smoke
From Friday, June 27th, Apple TV+
The Rocket Man star Taron Egerton heads a strong cast in this new crime series about an arson investigator in pursuit of two serial pyromaniacs. Joining Egerton in the series – based on a true story – are Rafe Spall, Jurnee Smollett, Anna Chlumsky, Greg Kinnear and John Leguizamo. Egerton plays the investigator, with Smollett as the detective who becomes his reluctant partner; they’ll have to find common ground if they are going to stop the firestarting spree before it gets completely out of control.
